Azonic PDW. Black. Two inch rise. Uncut. Got one to sell me?

Ghost bike. Franklin and River Road

I go through this intersection several times a week. I heard about it when it happened and I can clearly picture how it must have been, with the aggressive engine racing around the slowing cars and the crossing biker turning to see the truck closing in slow motion. A week later the ghost bike appeared. It makes me feel sad but it also makes me feel... comforted.

Master Snickup's Cloak

Modern Fork

Check. Scored a sweet Rock Shox Revelation XX (2010) for an amazing price. With 5 kinds of adjustability, Air springs, 32mm stanchions, 20mm through-axle, remote lock-out and 140mm travel it's over a pound lighter than the old Psylo and 100 pounds better.

LuLu

From the what the fuck were they thinking file. I've listened to this one-and-a-half times - yes, the whole thing. I think the Pitchfork review nails it. It literally sounds like you're playing two albums at the same time.

So a week ago I went in for my every-so-often physical and to investigate why I've been extra winded for the past week whenever even slightly exerting. Did some testing, went to the ER and did some more testing, then checked-in overnight to start medication for the large blood clots on my lungs. Pulmonary embolism that's called and since it didn't instantly kill me, I'm guessing it's going to make me stronger.

Yes, yes, it's all too bad, and I'm so young and healthy. I know. Sounds like I'm going to be fine in the long run, perhaps even better than fine - I wonder if I've had this to some degree for a while, perhaps years? There's gotta be some reason I'm always gasping when we ride, other than hard pedaling then and laziness before, right? (I think that's a joke) Well, whatever.

Examining my thoughts as I always do I realized a couple things. I felt very calm about the prospect of dying (I don't know that I was, but it sounded like one of the options on the table - the ER doc looked me in the eye and said that her friend had just died of it). There was a sad shadow for my kids and their lives, but for myself, it was acceptance and calm. It's what you do after living I guess. The other thought was that It didn't seem to have taken very long to get to here, at least from the point-of-view of this moment. It's always a continuum, so there isn't really an end-point to see the perspective from, but in that pause I could see it, and it seemed to have been pretty short. I remembered a lot of things I'd done, but they all seemed to blend together into last week and last year. And it was "now" and it was done.

So, that being said, I feel pretty good, possibly better than I have in a while. The only downside is that alcohol is also a blood thinner and I could really go for a beer or six.

Free Bikes 4 Kids

This is a good thing - a volunteer program that seeks bicycle donations, to fix up and redistribute for Christmas presents to poor kids. This year they have apparently received so many donations that they are reaching out to the public to come help them tune and clean to have their stock ready for the big morning. I'm not really a joiner of anything but I have done this for the neighborhood kids where I've lived for years, and one of the locations is the midtown Freewheel/Nice Ride which is convenient, so maybe it would be fun to get involved.

Even considering that many if not most of the bikes will be immediately trashed or stolen (and trashed) - or most likely: didn't get pumped up and got a flat tire and were never used again as no one is spending $5 on a tube, if even ten percent were appreciated and used that would be good. Imagine a city where generations of children, if they had nothing else, had access to a working bicycle.

Long long long overdue overhaul. Six years to be exact. Some of that stuff has never been changed or cleaned since the Green bike replacement was first built - gulp, could that be right? I had to cut the grip-bolts with a Dremel wheel, found the bars under powdery with corrosion. I bought my own Xmas presents this year I guess, in the form of that sweet XT above and the matching trigger shifters, as well as the variety of other parts (they add up fast) that were scheduled for replacement years ago.

I'm pretty confident I found the source of the funny ghost-shifting plaguing the last couple rides of the season; the derailleur hanger was loose, and when I took it off to clean it, discovered that it was cracked-through at one of the bolts. The cables were sliding in the housing as smoothly as sex at the beach too.

Going to start with a complete suspension tear-down and cleaning - as well as flipping the link back over to make the BB higher and the fork-rake steeper. The lower-slacker-stabler mode has been good, but I do hit my pedals noticeably more and don't get that aggressive stand-over stance as much as I want when I want it either. I think I may try clipless again too.

I've been having that conversation with myself for quite a while about fixing up vs buying new - but the reality is I can't afford to buy new, and Sean's example of building up and eventually swapping in a super-cool new frame has been pretty inspirational. This is the bike that takes the most beating - and gets the most use these days. It's also by far the one most due for upgrade. When first built, it was a mix of green-leftovers and hastily-sourced mid-line parts - that were not necessarily a quality-match for the sweet frame, and really of all the bikes, this is the one that will benefit the most from performance-light parts.

Stiff light cranks - check. Strong light wheels - check. New - Perfect sensitive shifting - check. New - Modern platform air fork... Um, nope, no new fork, but summer is still six months away.

Burning From the Inside

Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven

This was a cool thought and sound tonight. These are consecutive albums. Dream is three of the four from Burning - this was their next recording. Transitions can also be great.

Ti

Thank you

Doomtree are Minneapolis-based hip-hop artists

I don't listen to much rap actually but Doomtree is getting me into it. I especially like Paper Tiger (which is glasses-guy apparently) his False Hopes album is great. The woman is Dessa of course, really like her. It's cool to hear places you know name-checked in the songs.

Itasca!